During the September Parliamentary Recess...

I spent three weeks in the US. In that time there were great hurricanes, a societal fight over bending the knee, and a terrorist murdering 58 people and injuring 515 more.

Any one of these disasters would be a defining story for the time I was in the country; but all of them combined have become a part of the ever growing, worrying tapestry of 2017.

I left America concerned about the state of the nation.

I am concerned about my home. For three weeks, I watched a divided nation sneer at each other over social media, TV and radio. I’ve seen people shout Trump’s name with glee, until they see me. Then their glee turns to hushed tones knowing they do not yet have the power to stare me down and "put me in my rightful place". I had people talk to me in roundabout ways about how great Brexit and Trump are, hoping that I will not catch on to their true meaning, knowing they could not win the debate with me.

I have seen this new Trump-merica and I’m discouraged. In the first week I saw hurricane Irma rush through Florida. I saw a response from the President of the United States and the Government that was as measured as could be expected from Donald Trump and his administration.

When hurricane Harvey hit Houston, once again Trump was there. Looking compassionate towards people who had lost everything.

Several days later, a larger, more powerful hurricane, hit the US territory of Puerto Rico. hurricane Maria ripped right across the island. When the storm cleared, there was no water, no power and nowhere to hide. The people of Puerto Rico, American citizens, could not escape the devastation by running to a different state because, "it is an island, surrounded by water".

On September 20th, Hurricane Maria ripped across Puerto Rico. There was no part of the island that was untouched by the disaster. From the outset, Trump ignored the disaster; instead focusing on whether or not football players should kneel for the national anthem. In the intervening days it became more obvious that Trump could not ignore the problem so he resorted to insulting the starving, dying Americans by recalling Puerto Rico's financial woes.

On October 3rd,13 days after the disaster, he begrudgingly visited the island where he proceeded to throw paper towels at a crowd of seemingly selected individuals. In the time after he left the island he continued his assault on the island and anyone who would criticise his response.

To give some perspective, Puerto Rico was, and remains, without consistent power. A local hospital’s intensive care unit lost power and power reserves. Every single person in that particular intensive care unit died. Everyone.

"There's a medical center down here, and everyone that was in the Intensive Care Unit, died. Everyone. That's just one detail." -Nelson M Rosario

Compare this response with the response to the Vegas shooter. In that case, a white, wealthy male shot 58 people and injured 515 others on October 2nd. Trump was there to console victims on October 4th, one day after he was in Puerto Rico.

Yes, there were differences in the tragedies, but Trump's reaction to the two gives a telling story of his America.

The right wing press, comprised of radio hosts and websites, spent just as much time defending Trump's shunning of Puerto Rico as they did defending the shooter. One caller into the Glenn Beck show said that the shooter was probably very angry...at the divisions in America since the election and stopped just short of saying that he understood the shooter's motivations. The host, not Glenn Beck but a substitute for the day, shared the sentiments of the caller.

The Aftermath

I left America with the feeling that a darker force was on the verge of taking over the political discourse. Since the election and, the previous campaign,I was just watching the train wreck from afar but, to see the looks on people's faces, you knew there was a dark force coming back to the forefront of American society. A force that made the world make sense again(for certain people). When men were men, women were women and blacks couldn't live on my street.

I saw the concern in my mother's eyes and the anger in my father's. As a black woman and a Jewish man they know what America WAS like. 50 years of progress could be wiped out in four in order to make America Great Again.

IT wasn't all bad.

The one thing that I noticed; no matter if I was in rural Illinois or, Las Vegas or Chicago was that most people were cordial and nice. More so,in rural areas. I went to university in the middle of an area that voted for Trump. Even then, 90 percent of the looks I received were friendly and, I was almost always greeted with a hello. As a Londoner, it took some getting used to but, it was a nice change from the often indifferent and cold streets of the capitol.

Their faces reminded me that the dark forces were not completely in control. Not yet. There is still a chance to recover, re-engage and put America back on a progressive path.

Just look at Virginia.